"The Brewpub Cookbook - Favorite Recipes from Great Brewpub Kitchens" - Wheat Beer Potato Soup

Date I made this recipe:  April 5, 2014

The Brewpub Cookbook – Favorite Recipes from Great Brewpub Kitchens by Daria Labinsky & Stan Hieronymus

Published by:  Time Life Books

ISBN:  0-7835-4906-7

Purchased at Goodwill

Recipe:  Wheat Beer Potato Soup from Hops! Bistro & Brewery, Scottsdale, AZ – p. 58

Some cookbooks I buy have limited shelf lives; this is one of them.  I was putting some new acquisitions aside the other day, thought about it for a second and pulled this one out of the pack.  The hilarious thing is that I don't like beer but my husband does and since we were both in the mood for something lighter (although ha! – heavy cream and beer is not a "lighter") as opposed to this "Beef, it's what's for dinner" campaign we've been on as of late.   Good call.

And speaking of "calls," quite by accident, I made this soup on Saturday night, the night where the NCAA's Final Four fought it ought to advance to the finals.  The entire tournament has been rife with interesting "calls" by the game's referees.  Many a game came down to that one, last (disputed) call by an official and in a blink of an eye, one team went home crushed while the other advanced to the next level.

So on Saturday night, the second Final Four game pitted the University of Wisconsin against the Kentucky Wildcats.  Although Kentucky trailed by eight in the first half, they came roaring back several times over to finally win it by 1 point.  I was not a happy camper:  since both my Michigan teams lost their rounds, I was pulling for Wisconsin but as usual, I backed the team going home. 

Sad to say, this soup might have had something to do with it.  The recipe called for two things that are practically Wisconsin "national" ingredients:  shredded cheddar cheese (as a topping) and hefeweiss (Hefeweizen) beer.  Hefeweiss beer is a German beer and you'd be hard pressed to find someone in Wisconsin who doesn't have a drop or two...or a million...of German blood in them.  In fact, just like Minnesota is home to Swedes and Norwegians "fleeing" the home country, Wisconsin is home to displaced Germans.  Back in the day when my coworkers and I traveled to Milwaukee on business, we saved up all of our per diem money to have dinner at either Mader's or Karl Ratzch's, Milwaukee's high-end German restaurants and it was a treat.  Of course, on our off days, we'd have beer and brats, sometimes while attending Milwaukee Brewers games, courtesy of some of our clients.  And then there's the beer and brats (and cheese) at Packers games.  Ah....

Anyway, in my St. Patrick's Day blog, I mentioned a few things that I know about beer:  there is the awful (PBR, Schlitz, Blatz, etc.) and the sublime (dark beers like Guinness).  This concludes all I know about beer.  And so my trip to the liquor store was somewhat hilarious in that first I had to figure out what a hefeweiss was and then I had to find one that suited this recipe.  And so to Total Wine in Roseville we went! (Don't be fooled by the name as they carry more than wine – a lot more!)

This store, newly opened, is gigantic.  Their beer selections (plural) take up a huge wall.  So I asked one of the employees to point me in the direction of the hefeweiss and then grilled him like a cheese sandwich to learn what it was and what it would taste like in my recipe:  "Is it skanky, like Pabst or Budweiser?"  I was assured it was not.  "Well, is it sweet or is it a bit bitter?"  "Well, it's a wheat beer so...."  "Okay....so it's not sweet?"

And so on. Let's just say it took us a while to speak the same (beer) language.  (By the way, my husband was way down the aisle, checking out the dark beers.)  What I learned was that hefeweiss is a German beer, made from wheat (as opposed to "barley pop" that is Pabst, etc.) and that it should add a nice flavor to the soup.  Okay, works for me!

So I set off to make this soup and it's pretty easy:  boil the vegetables in chicken broth, blend well in a blender, add cream, add beer and there you go.  But oh, the things you learn while making it.  First, I didn't want my soup blended to the degree it was.  I like a chunkier potato soup so I should have skipped the blender all together.  Second, I was not expecting the beer to foam so much.  And this sounds stupid, I know, but all of a sudden, my already-full pot was in danger of overflowing and all that precious wheat beer would be gone.  Horrors!  And you should know it took quite a long time for that foam to dissipate.

Third, and this was odd, the minute I added the beer, it was if all the bubbles ate away at my potato mixture because it all turned to liquid in two seconds flat!  I really should consult a food scientist about this but a liquid soup was not what I was after.  At least it tasted great so we have that as a consolation, especially since Wisconsin lost.  ;(

As to this cookbook, it's a compact little book, 140 pages in all, showcasing recipes that contain beer and those that don't.  I know this is a silly comment, but I would have preferred if all the recipes from brewpubs contained beer.  Thankfully though, the recipe for homemade whipped cream was beer-free because otherwise – ew!  Since Andy and I wanted something on the lighter side, we bypassed all the ribs and roasts cooked in a beer bath and focused on soups.  Still, I'm kind of wishing I would have made the Stout Cheesecake!

Finally, a word of caution for those of you who may want to use this cookbook as a guide to visiting brewpubs:  this book was written in 1997 and at that time, only one restaurant was included for Minnesota – Mill Street Brewing Company, St. Paul, MN.  A quick Google search revealed that the formal name is Green Mill Mill Street Brewing Company – 57 S. Hamline Ave, St. Paul, MN.  That restaurant however, does not show up on a Google search for "Minnesota Brewpubs."  So there's that.  Happily, the list of brewpubs is growing (and growing) making for some fun dining and drinking (and brewing) experiences.  Huzzah!

Wheat Beer (Hefeweizen) Potato Soup – yield:  8-10 servings

2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and diced large

½ pound onion, diced

½ pound carrots, diced

2 quarts chicken stock

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups hefeweiss

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:  croutons, shredded cheddar cheese

Boil potatoes, onions, and carrots in chicken stock until soft.  Blend well in a blender.  Reheat mixture, and add cream.  Add beer and salt and pepper to taste.  It is not necessary to strain.  Author's Note:  Wheat beer will get bitter if exposed to a high amount of heat and cooked.  In other words, add the beer and serve it up!

"Irish Cooking - Classic and Modern Recipes" - Beef in Guinness for St. Patrick's Day!

Date I made this recipe:  March 16, 2016 (for St. Patrick's Day)

Irish Cooking – Classic and Modern Recipes by Ethel Minogue

Published by:  Shooting Star Press

ISBN:  1-57335-488-0

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Store

Recipe:  Beef in Guinness – p. 61

For once I was prepared.  For once I got a one-day jump on St. Patrick's Day.  And then like that, it came, it went, there were parades, there was drinking, there were likely hangovers (come on – St. Patrick's Day on a Monday?  That's asking for it.) – in other words, business as usual.

And so, our Irish repast:  beef plus beer = the perfect combination?  I don't like lamb so we didn't have lamb, I can take or leave corned beef (I adore it in hash but otherwise not so much) and watery cabbage?  No.  But I have to say that although the dish as a whole was great (the beef was ridiculously tender), I had issues with the – dare I say it – Guinness.

That's right.  I had issues with the Irish national beer.  So good thing I'm not even one teeny tiny drop Irish or I'd likely be bag-piped out of my clan, right?

Here's the thing:  I am not a beer drinker.  I never was but then I have several valid reasons why, namely Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), Hamms, Schlitz and Blatz (not to be confused with "Blitz(ed)" as in something many people were after a kegger. These were the beers of my generation and my parent's generation and they are all barley "pop" beverages with a tech of alcohol in them and they smell.  Honestly.  If any of you ever smelled a can of opened beer that was left out after a party, you know what I'm talking about.

Plus, beer can lead to beer guts and I don't do beer guts.  I do wine...or is that whine?  So college keggers were not for me (but trash can parties were) Shall I tell you though, that the popular beer substitute when I was in college – i.e. wine – was also absolute swill?  I cannot even think about a bottle of Boones Farm without shuddering.

But happily for most beer drinks, the beer landscape has now changed and not only are we importing more beers like Guinness but dark beers of all kinds are roaring to the top of the beer sales charts.  And I don't mind a sip or two of a good dark beer (like Guinness, I'll admit) but I don't want a whole glass.  My husband, on the other hand, is all about dark beers and so of course he liked this recipe a lot.  Sadly, although the meal itself was divine, all I could taste was the slightly bitter flavor of the Guinness and for that reason, and that reason alone, I had to slightly ding this recipe.  Perhaps the next time I should have the beer with the food...or just skip the food...it's unclear.

And so speaking of food, I am not a picky eater but since I have a major list of Irish food do's or don'ts, I automatically eliminated oh, a good 75% of the recipes in this book.  Also not on my dinner table this time around?  "Hare Pudding" (p. 83) – ew.  Even Andy wrinkled his nose at this one.   And what the...what?  "Seaweed Salad"? (p. 87) What am I, a mermaid?  And alright, "Seed Cake" in the dessert section (p. 111) doesn't sound that appetizing but the "seed" in question here is caraway seed, not birdseed as you might imagine.  And do not laugh, because years ago, I almost bought a cookbook intended for our friends, the birds.  The shop really needed to move that item to another section but whatever.

"Seed Cake" aside though, the dessert section was looking mighty appealing and God Bless the Irish, almost every single recipe contained booze.  Talk about my kind of cookbook! But just having made a Caramel Custard Pie for Pi Day (03.14.14), I was in the mood for something more substantial and since I like beef and Andy likes beer, we were golden with this recipe for "Beef in Guinness."

My only addition to this otherwise yummy and hearty stew (the taste of the beer aside) was potatoes and quite frankly, I was amazed that an Irish recipe didn't call for them up front – Irish Potato famine, anyone?  I added two peeled and quartered Idaho potatoes during the last 30 minutes of cooking time and they were perfect.  And the beef I bought (chuck steak) was so tender it was ridiculous.  This recipe calls for "braising" beef and a quick Google search lists many type of options for beef suitable for braising (quick sear the beef then simmer in liquid for a few hours until tender).

And so there you have it, another successful St. Patrick's Day meal made by someone with not a single, solitary drop of Irish blood in them but with perhaps a wee bit of alcohol – a happy cook makes a happy meal!

Beef in Guinness – serving size not indicated but probably 6

2-3 lb beef for braising

Seasoned flour (Ann's Note:  I used salt and pepper and that's it but you could likely season however you wanted.)

Oil or dripping

2 onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, whole

3 carrots, sliced

1 large bunch of fresh herbs (Ann's Note:  all I had on hand was parsley)

Salt and pepper

Beef broth (see Basic recipe) (Ann's Note:  buy a large can or carton and add to the pot per the directions i.e. enough to cover the beef)

2 bottles of Guinness (Ann's Note:  or more!  Two bottles for the recipe...two bottles for the cook)

1 oyster per person (optional) (Ann's Note:  option not taken!)

Cut the beef into large chunks and dip in seasoned flour.  Fry in hot oil or dripping.  Fry and brown the onions and garlic.

Place the meat, onions and other vegetables in a casserole dish.  Add the herbs and seasoning, and cover with beef broth.  Bring to a boil, then cover and cook over low heat for 1 ½ hours.  Add the Guinness, bring to a boil and simmer for another 30 minutes.  (Ann's Note:  at this point, I added two quartered Idaho potatoes to the pot.)

Lift the meat out of the sauce with a slotted spoon and serve; reduce the sauce to half the quantity over a high heat.  Pour it over the beef again, season to taste, and add the oysters, if liked. 

Serve with wedges of white crusty bread with mustard and a pint of Guinness.

"The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever" by Beatrice Ojakangas - Beer-Baked Irish Beef (for St. Patrick's Day and in memory of "Tall" Carol)

Date I made this recipe:  March 17, 2013 (St. Patrick’s Day and in memory of my friend, "Tall" Carol)                       

The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever by Beatrice Ojakangas

Published by:  Chronicle Books

ISBN:  978-0-8118-5624-9

Recipe:  Beer-Baked Irish Beef – p. 218

Damn, March is an awful month!  I know, I know—there’s St. Patrick’s Day and there’s the first day of spring and this year there’s also Easter for those of you who are into fun and frolic.  But it’s also a time of great loss for me:  5 years ago on March 2^nd, my mom passed away; 2 years ago on March 9^th, my dad passed away and a year ago on St. Patrick’s Day, my best friend, “Tall” Carol, passed away.  I’ve told my poor husband, whose birthday is on March 1^st, that we might have to stick that date on the end of February just so that we can celebrate it with joy and laughter instead of sorrow and tears.

So it’s been some kind of year and as I am not Irish and neither was Tall, I was not in the mood to really do much for St. Patrick’s Day except, of course, cook (and to hide out in my house to avoid debached and drunken drivers).  And today’s cookbook and recipe come straight to you from Tall’s collection and what the heck, I even found a beer recipe for the occasion.  As she liked beer, I think she would have liked this recipe.

In the “what a difference a year makes” category last year’s temperatures were a ridiculous and unseasonably high 75 degrees.  A group of us – family and friends – sat out on her deck planning her memorial to be held a month later.  That day too, the day of her memorial, turned out to be very, very warm.  But alas, this year we are back to our usual modus operandi which is to say snow and more snow and cold.  Today’s “opening” temperature was 12 degrees.  Let me repeat that – 12.  Brrr.  And so desperate temperature times call for desperate measures and that meant casserole!

Now whereas I tend to dream all year of summer sandals and warm temperatures, Tall loved skiing and the snow and so she would have been all excited by St. Patrick’s Day evening’s 4-inch snowfall and would have thought the stew I made in her honor was most appropriate to the weather.  And the fact that it had beer in it and was an Irish stew would have been just the thing she would have made for St. Patrick’s Day. 

The other thing I know about my friend was that she loved slow-cooked, falling-apart-as-we-talk beef stews.  She always reminisced and raved about a couple of crock pot roasts that I made on cross-country ski trips which was nice, but really, the crock pot did all the work.  I even considered making this recipe in a crock pot just to see how it would work but in the end, I went with 4 hours of slow-roasting in a 275 degree oven and it was perfect.  And once the flavors had a chance to “set” in the refrigerator, it was outstanding.  Tall was all about leftovers and usually divided and froze leftovers into single-size servings for eating at a later date; in this household, we usually eat the leftovers until we are bored and/or they’re gone.

As mentioned earlier, this book came from Tall’s collection and I have to admit that I did not make the connection right away to the fact that local author, Beatrice Ojakangas, wrote this book.  Beatrice is considered an authority on Scandinavian cooking and is a member of the James Beard Hall of Fame which earns her a hale and hearty “Uff duh” from the peanut gallery.  I like that local tie-in as it just seems to bring everything full circle.  This book is loaded with other yummy recipes, and includes everything from dips to desserts so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a substitute should the beer-beef recipe not suit you (although how could it not???).

So here’s how this whole thing went down:  we used one bottle of Guinness for the recipe, Andy poured himself a glass as well, I had my usual Bombay Sapphire martini (up with olives – a drink that Tall also enjoyed along with a good beer), and we raised our glasses to Tall, who is always here in spirit.  And so before I go, let me leave you with an Irish poem that I think Tall, who loved her cat Purl, would have enjoyed:

The Mouse on the Barroom Floor

Some Guinness was spilled on the barroom floor when the pub was shut for the night. Out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse and stood in the pale moonlight. He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor, then back on his haunches he sat. And all night long you could hear him roar, 'Bring on the goddam cat!'

Beer-Baked Irish Beef – serves 6 to 8

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon pepper

2 ½ to 3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1- to 1 ½ -inch cubes

6 slices bacon, diced

4 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1-inch lengths

4 large onions, cut into eights

2 cloves garlic, bruised and peeled

¼ cup minced fresh parsley, plus chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 bay leaf

1 bottle (12 ounces) Irish stout or dark beer

Hot boiled potatoes for serving

Preheat the oven to 275F. 

Combine the flour, salt, allspice, pepper, and beef cubes in a plastic bag.  Shake until all the meat is evenly coated with flour.

In a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove the bacon and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan.

Add the floured pieces of meat, a few at a time, and quickly brown them on all sides.  Transfer to a deep 2 1/2- to 3-quart casserole with a cover.  Add the carrots, onions, garlic, minced parsley, rosemary, marjoram, and bay leaf to the meat.

Pour the beer into the skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Pour over the meat in the casserole.

Cover and bake for 4 hours, or until the beef is very tender.  Remove and discard the bay leaf.  Sprinkle the dish with the chopped fresh parsley and cooked bacon.  Serve over hot boiled potatoes.